Saturday, September 22, 2018

DIGITIZE ALL RARE BOOKS : CREATE OPEN ACCESS ARCHIVES : NANDHIVARMAN




FINAL REPORT TO THE CENTRAL INSTITUTE OF CLASSICAL TAMIL for mt Research Project 2012-2013 Ref: Sanction Order : F.No.11-264/CICT/2012-2013 /Research Project -43 Titled Translation of Sangam Classics in other languages

Suggestion 1

In my quest I found among other translations of Thirukural, the English Translation of Kaviyogi Suddhananda Bharathiar to be the best. So far we all were considering that only G.U.Pope’s translation is best. You may differ as everyone is entitled to in a democracy, but I think that Central Institute of Classical Tamil should bring out the English Translation of Thirukural by Kaviyogi Suddhananda Bharathiar in book form and in e-book form containing in CD’s. Also that book should be uploaded in an Online Open Access Archives created by Central Institute of Classical Tamil and can be available to download by anyone, anywhere in the scholarly world. The book titled :SAINT VALLUVAR and HIS KURAL should be brought out by CICT to reach all parts of India and English speaking world.

Kavi Yogi Maharishi , great divine visionary and wise poet Dr. Shuddhananda Bharati when asked  about his age  answered: “My age is Courage!”

The Yogi wrote several hundred works in English, French, Tamil, Hindi, Telugu and Sanskrit; five thousand songs, and fifteen hundred poems in French. The magnum opus of the man conscious of the presence of God in him, Bharata Shakti, (in 50,000 verses) described his ideal: only One Humanity living in communion with only One God in a transformed world! Bharata Shakti is a monumental and unique work. The Yogi depicts the essence of all the religions, of all the prophets and saints, all the approaches of Yoga and all the cultures on an allegorical fabric. It is a book for any age which all spiritual researchers and all nations should read and meditate on.

Such a great scholar’s works in all languages must be published by various Universities of India and Institutes like Central Institute of Classical Tamil. I appeal through the Central Institute of Classical Tamil to approach the Human Resources Development Ministry of Government of India to accelerate the process of bringing to light a greatest Tamil scholar, a Universal Man.

Since Kaviyogi Sudhananda Bharathiar’s epic, the lengthiest epic in the world titled Bharata Shakti, (in 50,000 verses) described his ideal: only One Humanity living in communion with only One God in a transformed world! Bharata Shakti is a monumental and unique work. The Yogi depicts the essence of all the religions, of all the prophets and saints, all the approaches of Yoga and all the cultures on an allegorical fabric. It is a book for any age which all spiritual researchers and all nations should read and meditate on.

I in my suggestions to the Central Institute of Classical Tamil suggest that this Bharatha Sakthi epic, if it is within the parameters of laid down objectives of Central Institute of Classical Tamil, be brought out by CICT. or CICT can recommend to other suitable institutes and to also request UNESCO to publish this Universal Epic on the International Yoga day.


His other English works include 1. The Gospel of Perfect Life 2.Lights on better Life 3.Experiences of a Pilgrim Soul 4.Secrets of Yoga 5.Yoga for the Modern World 6. Voice of Thayumanavar 7. Among Immortals 8. Alvar Saints 9. The Soul Sings 10. Yogi and his words 11. Maxims of Moola Yoga 12. Divine Sparks 13. Sri Krishna and His Gospel 14. Sankara the world Teacher 15. Saint Thiagaraja 16. Saint Ramalingam 17.Saint Appar and his Hymns 18.Bramma Sutras [ Science of the Self] 19.Revelations of Meikandar 20. This is our Religion etc
Suggestion 2
Since the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s suggestion to name a International Yoga Day had been accepted by Unesco, it would be appropriate that Saint Thirumoolar, the father figure of all Yoga schools be honoured by publishing Thirumoolar’s Tamil book Thirumanthiram, along with its explanations in Tamil brought out in last century by Thiruvavaduthurai Atheenam, written by my Tamil teacher The.Aa.Srinivasachariar of Cuddalore.

  
Suggestion 3

Apart from Thirumoolar,  Kavi Yogi Suddhananda Bharathiar;s Song of Unity and Peace Anthem  is fittest to be sung on the International Yoga Day by UNESCO.

Song of Unity

Unite. Unite, Unite, Oh Souls
Unite and play your roles
Unite in mind, unite in heart
Unite in whole, unite in part
Like words and tunes and sense in song
Let East and West unite and live long
Trees are many; the grove is one
Branches are many: tree is one
Shores are many; sea is one
Limbs are many; body is one
Bodies are many; self is one
Stars are many; sky is one
Flowers are many; honey is one
Pages are many; book is one
Thoughts are many; thinker is one
Tastes are many; taster is one
Actors are many; the drama is one
Nations are many; the world is one
Religions are many; Truth is one
The wise are many; Wisdom is one
Beings are many; breath is one
Classes are many; college is one
Find out this One behind the many
Then life shall enjoy peaceful harmony

Peace Anthem

Peace for all, peace for all
For all the countries peace
Joy for all, joy for all
For all the nations joy
A rosy morning peace
A smiling summer joy (Peace for all)
All for each and each for all
This is the golden rule
Life and Light and Love for all
For all that live our love (Peace for all)
Work and food and clothes for all
Equal status for all
Health and home and school for all
A happy world for all (Peace for all)
No idle rich, no more beggars
All are equal workers
No more tears, no more fears
The heart is full of cheers (Peace for all)
No atom scare, no fat mammon
No room for war demon
Like leaves in trees, like rays in the sun
We are one communion,
One Divine communion (Peace for all)
The good in you is good for all
Your life is life for all
The God in you is God for all
Your love is love for all (Peace for all)
For he or she or it or rest
This collective life is best
This Universal Life is best
North or South, or East or West (Peace for all)
Peace for plants and birds and beasts
For hills and streams and woods
Peace in Home - land and air and sea
Dynamic peace we see
Peace for all, peace for all
Immortal Peace for All

Kaviyogi Suddhananda Bharathiar’s Song of Unity and Peace Anthem available not only in English but French and Dutch, which are enclosed in the annexure are fittest song to be sung before the United Nations General Assembly. Let on World Yoga Day this song through Unesco is sung across countries and continents.

Suggestion 4

I have submitted to the Central Institute of Classical Tamil digitized versions of Sangam Classics by Gnanou Diagou, and the fore ward to the French translation by Sir C.P.Ramasamy Iyer states :  Mr.Gnanou Diagou’s rendering of Thiruvalluvar’s Koural into French is important and significant to international cultural collaboration”
I have given the book both editions and also digitized versions along with my report. The Central Institute of Classical Tamil must publish in book form as well as e-book form in CD and upload in online open access archives to be created by CICT. Not only Thirukkural, but Ganou Diagou had translated Naladiyar, Nanmanikkadigai, Assarak Kovai,Tirikadugam, all Sangam classics into French. CICT can bring out all e-books in one CD and send to Universities which teaches French in France and all of French colonies of yester years



Suggestion 5
“The Hindu” dated : 21st April 1995 under the title :Multi – linguist par excellence wrote : "Tamil and Sanskrit are but two mediums that reflect the same image of pan-Indian  culture’’. says scholar S.N.Srirama Desikan

The Sangam classics and Subramania Bharathi’s works, Kamba Ramayanam and Thirukkural, Naaladiyar and Thiruppavai, Silappadikaram and the poems of Avvaiyar, are among the literary treasures that have been meticulously translated into Sanskrit by Srirama Desikan in a labour of love, a monumental work of half a century. Many of the volumes have an English exposition as well, lucid and apt, displaying yet another linguistic dimension of this grand old man of translation. Srirama Desikan’s tour de force, a pioneering work is the translation of the ancient Ayurveda texts from Sanskrit into Tamil.

As Honorary Special Officer, Ayurveda Translation Wing, Department of Indian Medicine and Homoeopathy, Government of Tamil Nadu, Srirama Desikan has in the past 12 years worked to bring out the Tamil translation of the Ahstanga Sangraham, the Charaka Samhita (three volumes) and the Susrutha Samhita, comprising in all an awesome 25,000 slokas and totalling 5,397 pages. The magnificent compilation includes description of procedures, chemical compositions of the herbs, sketches of surgical tools and photographs of medicinal plants.s for literature, the scholar has contributed to the sphere in a myriad ways. While he was research officer in the Kendriya Sanskrit Vidya Peeta, Tirupati, he wrote a 1000 page thesis a comparative study between Sanskrit and Tamil from the Vedic times to the present and from the Sangam age to the modern, drawing parallels and pointed out similarities between the two languages and literatures.


The scholar’s passion for elaborating on the common link between Sanskrit and Tamil has resulted in a number of carefully researched articles in leading newspapers and journals where he has expounded this theme.

 “I even translated the Kamba Ramayanam into Sanskrit. In fact, Rajaji, who released the book, wondered at the felicitation function why one should translate a work which itself had been inspired by Valmiki’s Sanskrit epic. I gave him a fitting reply about Vedanta Desikan who rendered the Alwar Pasurams into Sanskrit – the Dramido Upanished Saram. Rajaji laughed and while wrapping the shawl around me quipped in his inimitable styles that like a mother-in-law serving food to the daughter-in-law even while chiding her, he was honouring me.” Sriramadesikan also undertook a massive comparative study between Kamban, Valmiki and Tulsi.

In 1983, the Chief Minister M.G.Ramachandran impressed with Srirama Desikan’s translation of the ‘Thirullural’ gave him the assignment of making Ayurvedic texts easily understood in Tamil Nadu.


Ashtanga Sangraham. Charaka Samhita and Susruta Samhita, all Sanskrit books on Ayurveda; Tirukural; Naladiar, Subramania Bharati’s works from Tamil to Sanskrit, Pathypattu (Sangam Literature work) into Sanskrit, Ettuthogai (Sangam Literature), Silapathigaram, Andra Kavi Vemans’s works into Tamil and Sanskrit…. The list is endless and the subjects varied. Sriramadesikan passed away recently but his family can be approached.
I would appeal to the Central Institute of Classical Tamil to bring out the Sanskrit Translation of Thirukkural, so that those who know Sanskrit will understand the greatness of Saint Thiruvalluvar , a universal poet par excellence. The Sanskrit Translation of Naladiyar too should be published and the moral codes of Tamils be known to Sanskrit scholars.

Suggestion  5.

While the world is moving towards digitizing books, my personal hunt for rare books yielded mixed results. I could trace a book but could not Xerox or copy it since it was damaged beyond redemption.

The Jesuit Mission of Madurai maintains an archives in Shenbaganur near Kodaikanal of  and there I found the Tamil-Latin Dictionary of Veeramamunivar. Dictionarium Tamulico-Latinum by  Beschi and Rottler was published in 1852 at Nagapattinam. Only few pages, because of the worst condition of the manuscript could be Xeroxed. It struck to me digitizing it and uploading in net as open access material is the only way to preserve it . For better interaction between the two classical languages Latin and Tamil and for present day Latin speakers to understand Tamil, this dictionary is of immense value. Similarly Grammatica Latino-Tamulica by Veeramamunivar known as Constantius Josephus Beschius printed by Saint Josephs Industrial School Press , Trichinopoly in 1917 is another rare book which would help Tamils to know Latin grammar was found in Shenbaganur Archives.

The second Edition of Dictionnaire Tamoul-Francaise by MM.Mousset and L.Dupuy published by Pondicherry Mission Press in 1895 [second edition] is preserved in Shenbaganur. This would enable Frenchmen to understand Tamil, whereas the same authors had brought out Dictionnaire Francais_Tamoul in the year 1911 from the same press. This would be of help to Tamils to learn the French language. It is available in reprints but has no takers is another story.

Having visited various archives in connection with my project titled Translations of Sangam Classics in Classical, Foreign and Other Languages for Central Institute of Classical Tamil, I could find rare books but could not copy them or Xerox them . My attempts to take photographs of some books will reveal the futile struggle which all scholars cannot afford to do.

Like U.Ve.Swaminatha Iyer another scholar or his reincarnation cannot be expected to come alive by the fag end of this century to start campaign to save rare books which appeared in Tamil and printing technology was introduced to Tamils by westerners.

 It struck to me that in collaboration with Anna University, a Tamil NRI based in California Kumbakonam B.Chandrasekar who funded the India’s first research centre in public-private partnership succeeded in inventing first Tamil search engine like Google or yahoo and named it Kazhugu.. AU-KBC research centre had also launched Online Tamil Dictionary “Agaraathi” and this prompted me to suggest a tie-up of Central Institute of Classical Tamil and Anna University-KBC Research centre for digitizing all rare Tamil books and creation on Online Open Access Archives.

During the International Seminar and Conference on Information Technology in February 1999 a decision to start Tamil Virtual University was announced. Tamil Virtual University renamed as Tamil Virtual Academy has a website visited by 2,34,4272 visitors. A birds eye view of the site will reveal lot more had to be done. In Dictionaries they have uploaded Pals Dictionary English-Tamil , Tamil-Tamil Dictionary by M.Shanmugam Pillai, and Madras University Tamil Lexicon Volume 1 to 7. Tamil Virtual Academy has an Electronic Dictionary with spelling. The Tamil-Latin Dictionary or Tamil –French Dictionary and grammars referred just as sample, had to be digitized and uploaded.

Another ambitious project of Government of Tamilnadu was the Tamil Etymological Dictionary Project which started in 1974 and ended in 2011, with 12 Volumes in 31 parts running into 12,000 pages being printed and distributed to the libraries of Tamilnadu. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of Tamil Language which was initiated by Deveneya Paavanar and finished when R.Mathivanan was the Director in 2011, needs to be digitized and uploaded as Online Free Accessible Archives material. But the Former Director of the Tamil Etymological Dictionary Project R.Mathivanan opined these dictionaries had to be updated and additional inputs incorporated. Printed copies have been exhausted and reprints are required, he said.

The Tamil Virtual Academy had published for online accessibility the Tamil Encyclopaedias , a monumental work initiated by Education Minister of Madras Presidency Avinasilingam Chettiar [right ] and edited by Perisamy Thooran [left] in picture. 10 volumes are for public accessibility. Similarly Children’s Encyclopaedia too is there in just a click away in Tamil Virtual Library.

The University Library, a replica of the Indian Parliament House in its structure is located prominently in the campus of the University. As an ever-growing unit for knowledge and information, the library concentrates not only in purchasing new books but also to collect and preserve old and rare books for its shelves. As on date, the total number of books is 1,36,324 and the total number of periodicals is 393. A few rare personal collections of great scholars however procured. Mention may be made of an old collection procured from the first mobile library started in 1931 at Mannargudi. India Office Library Records (1600-1900) are available in Microfilm. Scholars of repute, researchers and students frequently visit the library for reference. Moreover, a current awareness service, selective dissemination of Information and reprographic service are offered to them. Apart from the availability of Photostat machine, materials such as linguaphone records, audio cassettes, video cassettes and CD's are available for reference in the Library.

It is high time Tamil Virtual University gets back its old name and strengthened by making it topmost Digital Archives of Tamil books. Tamil University Thanjavur, International Institute of Tamil Studies both under State Government and Central Institute of Classical Tamil under Human Resource Development Ministry of Government of India must be made epicentres to trigger knowledge explosion by enriching their libraries converting them into Open Access online libraries to benefit Tamils and other language scholars spread across the continents. Pondicherry Central University and its Anandaranga Pillai Memorial Library, Romain Rolland Library 187 year old heritage left by French should become online libraries.

Private initiatives by Tamil Electronic Library of Malaysia, Project Madurai, Tamil Heritage Foundation etc are laudable but it struck to me that every house can digitize its collections. Former Principal of Teachers College Pollachi Nasan, through his website thamizham.net  had added 10814 books and 34402 journals totalling 45216 collections in Tamil. A Bachelor has everything arranged in his two room house at Pollachi and digitizes at the rate of 1000 pages per hour.

Pollachi Nasan.
How he could do this ?  to my  surprised query he told Japanese technology helped him.
The Easy Book Scanner - an Introduction to this 1000 pages per hour

To build the above scanner

With technology coming to help every household in Tamilnadu which houses rare books of past generations, could buy such easy scanners and keep all their home library books as e-books and prevent loss or destruction of books due to vagaries of time.

I read in news papers that Central Institute of Classical Tamil had called for cooperation of various Tamilnadu Universities for this purpose. It is a laudable move, which would go a long way in preservation of all Rare Books in Tamil and books related to Tamil Culture in other languages

On this day 9.12.2014 I am submitting to the Panel of the Central Institute of Classical Tamil two CDs containing E-Books of Subramania Bharathiars Poems in French, Kavidamandalam, Journals, Aringnar Anna’s article People’s Poet about Bharathiar and my article Greatest Bard Bharathiar which dwells on Bharathiar’s English writings.
Another CD contains Thirukural French Translation by Gnanou Diagou, Mauritius Muthukumaran Sangili’s French Translation of Thirukural., Naladiyar, Asarakovai Nanmanikadikai, Thirikadukam etc all packed in one CD.

If the project is given to me, more such e-books in CD’s will be submitted to the Central Institute of Classical Tamil which can publish under its own banner.

SUGGESTION  6
 IF THE PANEL APPROVES CICT CAN ORGANIZE A FUNCTION AND RELEASE BHARATHYAR’S FRENCH TRANSLATION CD SINCE BHARATHY ANNIVERSARY IS NEAR.

TWO DIFFERENT FRENCH TRANSLATIONS ONE FROM PONDICHERRY ANOTHER FROM MAURITIUS ON THIRUKURAL and FEW SANGAM CLASSICS TOO CAN BE RELEASED

Though I have submitted 3 volumes before extended deadline of March 2014  since During the panel meeting on 9th December 2014 it was suggested that I hand over one more copy of all my earlier  4 Reports, I have uploaded those Reports as pdf files in a CD and I am submitting in person to CICT.

Please note that  I have applied for another project for 2013-2014 period.

Under the research field of Publications History and Research of Classical Tamil Literature and Grammar from the days of Palm leaf texts to print texts , which is one of the fields identified by Central Institute of Classical Tamil , for the year 2014-2015 Short Term Projects, Title proposed by Thamizhmaamani Awardee of Pondicherry Government [2009] N.Nandhivarman is as follows :

Digitizing all editions of Sangam Tamil Classics and handing over to CICT with Research History in English and Tamil.
N.Nandhivarman
104 A, Annamalai Nagar, Saram,
Pondicherry 605013
Cell: 9244445508

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